Righteous Rhubarb Recipes

While in town last week, as I was letting myself be pampered with both a manicure and a pedicure, the marvelous lady in the next chair remarked that I should keep putting recipes in my column. I thank her for her comment as I sometimes wonder how much they are appreciated. I know they do pertain to gardening as we need to know what to do with our produce. Spring, of course, is prime rhubarb season. I have a couple new ways to prepare this delectable vegetable that we treat as a fruit.

Oat and Brown Sugar

Rhubarb Crisp

Filling:

Scant 5 C rhubarb, cut in 1” pieces

1/2 C cane sugar

2 Tbl tapioca

Juice of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

Mix together and let sit in a 9-10” baking dish while you prepare the topping.

Topping:

1/2 C old fashioned oats

1/2 C oat flour

1 Tbl tapioca

1/4 C raw pepitas, ground fine OR 1/4 C almond flour

1/4 C raw sunflower seeds

1/3 C brown sugar

2 Tbl cane sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

5 Tbl butter, melted

Whisk all ingredients except the butter together, then stir in the butter. Top the filling with the crumble, leaving 1/2” gap around the edges. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes. Cool 20-30 minutes before serving.

This recipe is gluten-free. I made mine sugar-free as well by subbing xylitol for the cane sugar, and coconut sugar for the brown. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds, and not having a food processor, I opted to use almond flour instead. The crunch and flavor of the sunflower seeds in the topping is a nice variation on the usual crumble topping.

The next recipe was more complicated, only because it took a few days to complete. If you’re a fig fan, as am I and our oldest daughter (who gets half of this), you’ll appreciate making the effort. I know I’ll be making this again. This one uses honey instead of processed sugar, so it’s healthier. I used dried Smyrna figs (you can get a large bag at Costco). The jam tastes great just as is, even without toast under it. I imagine it would also be great over ice cream or with whipped topping.

Honey-sweetened

Rubarb/Fig Jam

1 ¼ pd rhubarb, cut in 1/8” pieces

15-16 dried figs, soaked in hot water 2 hours

1/3 C honey plus 1/4 C honey

Peels from 2 lemons, white pith included

2 Tbl lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

Drain figs, cut in half. Combine with the rhubarb and 1/3 C honey in a glass bowl. Leave to macerate in fridge for two days.

Put in a heavy saucepan, stirring in the 1/4 C honey, along with the lemon peels and juice. Bring to a boil, stirring, then lower heat and simmer 5 minutes, while continuing stirring. Turn heat as low as possible so it’s barely bubbling, and cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until very thick, all liquid is dissolved, and rhubarb has no texture. Remove and discard lemon peels. Stir in vanilla. Spoon into 2 pint jars and let cool without lids. Set in fridge 5-6 hours. Will keep in fridge 2 weeks.

I have tilled the garden but have yet to put the drip system in place. Neither have I begun to restring the electric fence. The raspberry canes still need thinning. Bone meal needs to be sprinkled over those rows to help strengthen the canes. The asparagus row(s) still have a fairly deep covering of dead leaves to be scraped away. (The asparagus doesn’t care. It’s still sending up lots of spears. They’re delicious either raw or steamed or zapped.)

I’ve been concentrating, between rain showers, on getting the huge broken, downed tree cut and removed from the bottom of the garden. It’s in the way of the electric fence, and has also prevented the mowing of about a 20’ x 30’ section of lawn. Most of the smaller branches and twigs have been snipped or broken off. They’ve made quite a refuse pile.

The bigger limbs will wait for Chainsaw Mary to be back in business. The chain needs restringing: it popped off when a smaller (2” diameter) limb suddenly snapped downwards, causing too much tension on that chain. There are a lot of much larger limbs to still be sawed off. I envision quite a large stack of firewood by the time I’m done.

Back to the birbs: we have four pairs of orioles consuming prodigious amounts of grape jelly and cut oranges. Occasionally a rosy-breasted grosbeak also visits the jelly and orange station. The goldfinches are emptying the five thistle seed feeders daily. They’re fun to watch. Dennis enjoys watching their antics in the early mornings, before he heads out to work. And he fusses about how the grackles bully all the other birds away even though they don’t eat what those other birds do. I don’t have a cure for that.